BETRAYED INTO THE ARMS OF THE DEVIL

chapter 6: The King's claim

The doors to the main sitting room swung open with a heavy thud. Cassius Moretti stepped inside like the estate belonged to him, his tall frame dominating the space. He was lethally handsome, sharp jawline and dark piercing eyes that scanned the room with cold calculation. No smile,no pleasantries, Just raw command that made the air feel thicker.

My parents rose quickly, Father extending a hand that Cassius ignored, mother smoothed her dress, trying to look composed, but I saw the flicker of fear in her eyes, why Liora hovered near the edge, her usual confidence dimmed. Nikolai had already left, but his absence felt heavier now.

Cassius didn’t sit, he stood in the center of the room, his presence sucking the oxygen out of it. His gaze landed on me last, locking with an intensity that sent my heart slamming against my ribs. Something about his voice when he finally spoke, low and commanding,stirred a ghost of memory. That blurred night, the masked man’s murmur against my skin but I pushed it away, impossible.

“Valenti family,” he said, voice cutting like a blade. “I won’t waste time. I am here for Lena.”

The room went dead silent for a beat, then erupted.

“What?” Father sputtered. “You can’t be serious.”

Mother clutched the back of a chair. “Mr. Moretti, this is highly irregular. The situation with our daughter…”

Cassius raised a hand, silencing them instantly. “The engagement with Nikolai is dead, her reputation is in ruins, she carries a child, I will marry her. Not out of pity, not charity. The Valenti alliance strengthens my position, and the child will serve as my heir. This is business, strategy, and survival.”

Disbelief rippled through the room like a shockwave. Liora’s face twisted in shock and something darker, rage. My parents exchanged stunned glances, opportunistic hope warring with fear. I stood frozen, blood roaring in my ears.

Marry him? The devil everyone whispered about. The man who crushed empires and left bodies in his wake.

“No,” I said, the word bursting out before I could stop it. This was the first time I challenged someone so powerful directly, but the rage and fear fueling me wouldn’t let me stay silent. “You don’t get to walk in here and claim me like property. I’m not a transaction, I’m not your bargaining chip or your convenient heir-bearer. I’ve had enough of being used by everyone.”

Cassius turned his full attention to me. His dark eyes narrowed slightly, but a flicker of intrigue crossed his face,gone so fast I might have imagined it. He remained icy, unmoved by my outburst.

“You have fire,” he said, his voice low and steady. “Good. You’ll need it in my world. But make no mistake, Lena Valenti. Your worth is now tied to my name. Refuse, and you remain ruined, your child vulnerable to the wolves circling your family. Accept, and you gain protection, power, a future beyond this gilded cage.”

His words struck hard, but it was the depth of his voice that unsettled me most,deep, possessive, that unsettled me again. It echoed the masked stranger’s murmurs from that night: protective even in passion, commanding. A shiver ran down my spine, mixing fear with an unwanted pull I couldn’t explain. My body remembered something my mind fought to bury, heat flushed my skin. No. This man was cold steel,he couldn’t be..

I lifted my chin, refusing to back down. “Protection? You mean ownership. I won’t trade one prison for another.”

The tension crackled between us. He stepped closer, towering over me, his cologne faint but familiar in a way that twisted my stomach. Not close enough to touch, but close enough that I felt the heat radiating from him. His eyes held mine, unblinking, as if he saw straight through my defiance to the scared, pregnant woman beneath.

“You think you have a choice?” he replied, his voice was calm, controlled, and laced with a quiet strength that felt sharper than steel.“Your family has already lost control. The child you carry changes the board,I need an heir, you need survival, and this marriage serves both.”

Rage burned in my chest, but so did the fear,of him, of the unknown, of how my body reacted to his nearness with that strange, magnetic pull. I wanted to hate him, part of me did, but another part, buried deep, felt drawn to the power he wielded so effortlessly. It terrified me.

My parents recovered quickly, the shock shifting to greedy calculation. Father cleared his throat. “Mr. Moretti, this alliance would be... beneficial. We accept on behalf of the family.”

They agreed without even glancing at me. No consultation, no concern for what I wanted. Mother nodded eagerly, already seeing the Moretti name lifting their sinking ship, Liora stood silent, her fists clenched at her sides.

Cassius didn’t smile. He simply gestured to one of his men who had entered behind him. Papers were produced, legal documents, marriage agreements, terms laid out in cold black ink.

“The wedding will happen within days,” Cassius stated, his tone leaving no room for argument. “You have no choice, Lena. Sign, or watch your family and your child pay the price.”

I stared at the papers, heart pounding with a storm of rage, fear, and that inexplicable, unwanted pull toward the stranger who now held my entire future in his hands.